This summer many new elementary school teachers across the state have discovered that they need to pass a competency test in order to teach this fall.
The unexpected requirement comes straight from Washington under the No Child Left Behind Law.
The test applies to kindergarten through sixth grade teachers -- at least those who are paid with federal dollars.
New Hampshire Public Radio's Amy Quinton reports.
Usually when New Hampshire students graduate from college with a degree in elementary education, they're ready to begin teaching in classrooms.
And with a nationwide teacher shortage, superintendents are eager to hire.
Plymouth State graduate Jessica Scudder has already interviewed for several teaching positions for the fall.
But she recently learned from a professor that she's not ready to teach, at least not according to the US Department of Education.
"she informed us that we would be getting a letter in the mail shortly telling us that we were now going to have to take the Praxis II in order to teach whether it was as a classroom teacher or a special ed teacher."
The Praxis II is a standardized test for kindergarten through sixth grade teachers that gauges their knowledge of four subjects: math, science, social studies and language arts.
The No Child Left Behind Law is requires all teachers to become "highly qualified."
If federal dollars are paying for elementary teachers, they now have to take this test.
Anne Davis is with the state education department.
She says the change may affect about 200 teachers.
"we have these people who have been hired, unfortunately for them and for everyone involved, it makes it difficult for them they’ve been hired and now they have to take a test, they’ll have to wait and see if they’ve passed the test."
Davis says New Hampshire originally interpreted federal regulations to say a teacher's coursework to obtain a degree would demonstrate knowledge of math science social studies and language arts.
Turns out they were wrong.
In June the federal department of education sent the state a letter saying the test was mandatory.
"The federal definition of a content major would be a very specific content such as English or Math as a major, and that’s where the misunderstanding took place."
Many teachers were caught off guard and are now scrambling to register for the test.
Grace Jeffrey Nelson is with the teacher’s union, NEA-New Hampshire.
"I think its really unfair to our new teachers coming out of college who've just received their first job to all of a sudden be told that they are now responsible for taking this test."
Nelson and other teachers say New Hampshire colleges produce teachers that are already highly qualified and a standardized multiple choice test doesn't measure their ability to teach.
Plymouth State Professor Patricia Cantor directs the teacher prep program.
She says the 120 question test is so all-encompassing that it deosn't really gauge a teacher's knowledge of a subject either.
For example, the social studies portion of the Praxis II covers world history, u-s history, psychology, anthropology, economics, and sociology.
"So how you can measure all of that in 30 questions is kind of silly so you end up with a superficial rather arbitrary test that’s really difficult to study for and highlights sort of tiny bits of knowledge."
Cantor says under that scenario, a teacher's knowledge of the entire world's history would be measured by just three questions.
And she’s concerned that with this change, will come too much focus on testing.
"My concern is if we keep going down this road they'll become a perception that passing this test means you’re highly qualified and that passing this test become the equivalent of four years of a teacher prep program."
It may be a legitimate concern, according to No Child Left Behind guidelines, by the end of next year, all newly hired elementary teachers regardless of where the money comes from to pay their salary, will have to take the test in order to be considered highly qualified.
In the meantime, state education officials say the teachers affected this year will still be able to teach this fall.
They'll just have to prove that they've registered to take the test.
For NHPR news, I'm Amy Quinton.
Click here to see a sample test
